(Recasts with Gates)

MUNICH, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The United States led a chorus of encouragement on Saturday for the aspirations of Croatia, Albania and Macedonia to join NATO, with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates giving explicit backing to their bids.

"I think that our view is that the three are ready for membership and we would like to see that happen," Gates told reporters at a security conference in Munich.

Earlier, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer gave overt encouragement to the Balkans trio, saying he hoped for new entry invitations at an April summit of the alliance.

"It is ... important that we create a new dynamic in the region," de Hoop Scheffer told the same conference.

"That's why I hope at Bucharest we will be ready to open NATO's door to new members from this region," he added, referring to an April 2-4 summit in the Romanian capital.

NATO allies are currently studying the application bids of the three would-be members, which must meet a range of military and democratic conditions.

Diplomats say Croatia appears closer to fulfilling the criteria than the other two but stress no decisions have been taken within the 26-member alliance yet.

German Defence Minister Franz Jozef Jung said he was "optimistic with reference to the perspective of Croatia joining, and perhaps also the prospects for Albania and Macedonia".

The three Balkans countries missed out on NATO's last enlargement wave in 2004, when it took in seven formerly communist states -- Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Governments in Ukraine and Georgia are also seeking to boost ties with NATO on the way to an eventual membership invitation.

While Kiev has recently reasserted its NATO ambitions, NATO allies remain concerned about the unpopularity of the alliance with many Ukrainians, while Georgia's rough treatment of anti-government protesters last year has dented its hopes.

"I think in principle we also want to further the transatlantic aspirations of Ukraine and Georgia," said Gates, whose country is among their more enthusiastic supporters.

"It's no secret that there are differences of view here in Europe on that subject and so I think that will probably be one of the subjects of discussion at Bucharest." (Reporting by Mark John and Andrew Gray; Editing by Diana Abdallah)

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